Blog

Dec 12, 2017

Joe Newton passed away last Saturday, December 9, 2017. 49 years ago he was my freshman year HS track coach at York HS in Elmhurst, IL. If you're reading this blog- you already know he was/is the greatest HS cross-country coach in U.S. history. Below- is a yearbook team photo of me sitting next to Mr. Newton. You already know he won 28 Illinois State Cross Country Championships and another for Track and Field during his years as coach at York. You also already know or have read that he treated each and every athlete with love, compassion, respect...equally.

Feb 14, 2016

Aug 3, 2015

401 N. Wabash in downtown Chicago is where I cut my teeth in the professional world of journalism. It was a long time ago in a world that no longer exists...journalistically or physically.

The above building is gone along with The Chicago Daily News as it closed in 1978. The Chicago Sun-Times has moved down the river a few blocks. A lot taller building is in it's place owned by The Donald.

My first professional editorial cartoon appeared Sun-Times' sister paper, The Chicago Daily News in 1976.My mentor, Pulitzer winning cartoonist John Fischetti worked there and he helped me start my career

Jul 27, 2015

Check out the link above...you won't believe how ridiculously bad this newspaper advertisement for a funeral home is. As far as journalism is concerned the TV station WEB site didn't do much better.

I'm not really sure why TV stations always tend to leave out the WHY and HOW of journalism's who, what, where and when.

You'll see the WEB site simply said "...was selected by the newspaper's production department." This supposed 'mistake' is so blatant that it requires the basic WHY and HOW questions answered. I'm now wondering why or if the WHY and HOW questions were even asked by the TV station WEB site reporter.

How did anybody pick this image of this soldier for the ad?

Why was any soldier even needed for the ad?

Usually ad buyers sign off on advertisements that are not created by themselves. Did the funeral home sign off and OK the ad...was something changed after the OK?

Was the production department person just completely ignorant of basic common knowledge facts about history?

Why wasn't any of this info included in the TV station's WEB site story?

News stories are supposed to answer questions...not produce more questions.

There is no excuse for these examples of bad journalism and....

I'm afraid the state of journalism is only going to get worse.

The ethical, financial and consumer environments of basic journalism just doesn't exist anymore.

The most important fact is that there isn't anybody that cares anymore. That's right, the users and producers of journalism just don't care about the final product like they should.....and more importantly they need to.

Jul 23, 2015

Everybody has underestimated the Donald.....the very reasons we believe that will end the Trump presidential joy ride....are the VERY reasons that are propelling him to the leader of the GOP.

Ironically, it wasn't Trump who 'fired up the crazies'. It was Sen.John McCain who not only fired up- but gave birth to the crazies when he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Not that politics was ever normal before Palin, but since then- it really seems to have gone off the rails- big time.

I'm not sure if the crazies are eating up Trump or Trump eating up the crazies. Either way, we're all staying tuned in to see what the Donald will do next on this latest incarnation of a reality TV show.

He's manipulating this GOP primary for his own personal approval ratings. He's not acting like a politician...and that's the very reason why he's so far ahead of the GOP field. Make no mistake he IS acting .....in his own reality TV show - let's call it, 'So who wants to be president?'

Every time I see Trump in front of a microphone...I'm expecting him to rip his shirt off..ala Hulk Hogan- getting red faced as he raises his voice at some unimportant distracting slight.

His Bloviator has no decency or class...giving out personal phone numbers on live TV. He's got a lot of Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace running through his veins. So much for Reagan's Eleventh Commandment...thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican.

Being a rich businessman now toying with the idea of a third party run at the White House Donald is starting to look like Ross Perot. Especially when Perot ran splitting the republican vote that allowed a Clinton to win the race. Is history repeating itself...again...you'll be hearing about this comparison a lot when Jeb wins the GOP nomination.

A lot of people may believe Trump is a lot like Howard Beale, the reality TV nut case from the 1976 movie Network, who implored his crazies to their windows and stick your head out and scream at the top of your lungs...'I'm as MAD as HELL and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!'

Personally, I see the Donald as a cross between Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Chuck Barris from the Gong Show.

If you've never seen either of those shows you can Youtube them or just watch the latest Trump manipulation of the press on the evening news.

Jul 22, 2015

SO- what is the reason that some people are against the nuclear deal with Iran? Are they really war mongers, looking to pick another fight with another middle eastern country? Or do they just don't like Iran?

Is it possible they have a better nuclear arms deal that is not being considered? Seriously? Not really because they, the Ridiculous Right really IS a bunch of war mongers, looking to pick a fight with another middle eastern country because they just don't like Iran.

The reason RR is a bunch of war mongers because we now have a all-volunteer armed forces....no more draft. You don't have to serve unless you really want to. Our military is the RR's favorite toy. They proclaim to be pro-life unless of course there is some problem they believe the military can fix. They also believe the military can fix everything....including their hatred for the country of Iran.

The problem is the American military isn't the solution, especially dealing with Iran, in fact- America really seems to be Iran's biggest problem.

Iran is controlled by a bunch of (interestingly) ridiculous right wingers...infused with way too much religion....Iran is a theocracy.

In physics- to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.... is also true with politics.

Yes- Iranian revolutionaries took over the U.S. embassy and 52 hostages, burned U.S flags and chanted Death To America! I have to ask why- what provoked Iranians do that?

Was it because our CIA toppled their elected leader back in 1953....and then installed a repressive puppet....? No? OK, then maybe it was our spending billions of dollars to support the Shah :ie repress the people of Iran....for decades.

After we got our hostages back we didn't apologize for the Shah, we supported Saddam the chemical weapons dictator (who since then we have fought two, count 'em two separate wars with Iraq). Again we spent our tax dollars supporting Saddam with weapons in their attack against Iran.

If that wasn't enough salt in the wound...we then in 1988 with one of our warships accidentally shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290 passengers, including 66 children.

Top all that off with Senator John McCain singing Bomb, Bomb, Iran....

Maybe it's time we start exporting more of our culture and less of our military.

Jul 21, 2015

What is it with racists....? What is wrong with their brains .....I mean other than the fact that they don't have one.

Whatever is affecting Trump it seems to be spreading.....at least to the mayor of Airway Heights in Washington State. (Check out the link above)

I can understand Trump's motor mouth not being connected to his brain. What I don't understand is the Mayor of Airway Heights FB posting...."Gorilla face Michelle, can't disagree with that. The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL"

There is a big difference between posting and thinking...one is a lot faster than the other....much easier for your tongue to trip over it's prejudice. Typing and posting allows a lot more time for the thought process in kick in....and if you still reveal yourself a racist...you ARE a racist.

The kicker is the mayor doesn't believe what he posted was racist....wait it gets better...but he says that if he does resign .....THAT will be an admission of proof that he is a racist.

How does a brain twist that logic so he believes it's NOT racist to call the first lady 'Gorilla face'....?? But resigning his office would prove he is racist. I know I pretty much repeated myself there. I'm just having a hard time trying to wrap my mind around that kind of thought process.

The mayor is the worst kind of racist....one who doesn't believe he is while spewing his vileness. He's a coward ...who doesn't have the guts to stand up for what he believes in.

Let's give the good ol' boy mayor the benefit of doubt about his first family FB racist post. Maybe he posted his racist feelings because this one time his brain was disconnected from what he typed. The weekly newspaper in Spokane, The Pacific Northwest Inlander reported that the mayor has posted and reposted at least 75 racists posts. That's no typo....he's posted at least 75 words of wisdom... This mayor is an embarrassment to the taxpayers, the city council and the entire community....not to mention himself and his family.

So now we're not talking a little one time oops...were talking about a community supporting this mayor as their leader. The mayor's position may be largely ceremonial...at $2,000 a month. So- the bent over taxpayer's are paying $24,000. a year for a ceremonial..... 'MAY I HAVE ANOTHER CEREMONIAL--SIR!'

Jul 20, 2015

Bloom County is back.....as pop culture works it's way through the evolutionary electronic keyhole of technology. Opus and Bill the cat who is still dead are now both living and breathing the creative breath of Mr. Breathed.

Back in the last century the funny pages lost the three paragons of the art of making people laugh with their ink on paper creations and imaginative story telling.

The three were Gary Larson of the Far Side, Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes and BerekleyBreathed of Bloom County. All three were published daily in over a thousand newspapers.

During the last 25 years America would only see glimpses Watterson and Larson...but it was only enough to wave to everybody and then they were gone as quickly as they appeared. Breathed tried to continue his characters in Sunday only features entitled Outland and Opus.

Last week was different, Opus and friends did NOT appear in any newspapers in America. Then how could Bloom County be declared.... back? Bloom County is back....just not in newspapers.

Reading between the lines about his past experiences with his strip and dealing with newspaper editors... the PC police of popular culture may explain it. There seems to be more Breathed love for the strip, the characters and story lines...not so much for the editors and deadlines. SO Berekley decided to revive Bloom County for the fun of it on Facebook. No editors or deadlines....just do it whenever the fancy strikes him.

A lot of print ink slingers are curious about how much fun it's going to be for a cartoonist who is used to receiving major financial returns for his efforts.

The questions are- does he have a separate agreement with FB for posting Bloom County whenever he cares to....? Two- is Bloom County purely the love of producing the strip, meaning he's financially set the rest of his life and his time doesn't have to generate any kind of a financial return....? Three, is FB going to be paying him or does Berekley hope to generate revenue via the Google AdSense route.....? The latter would require his site to have a blog as Google AdSense is based on search words from a blog.

Or is he going to do WEB comics publishing model...where there is no money for the comic strip. The WEB comic publishing model is supported by using your comic strip to attract people to your site so you can sell product - such as prints, originals, books, t-shirts and whatever else you can market.

These are the questions that are facing all newsprint graphic entertainers and commentators. Hopefully, Breathed's Bloom County FB experience can shed some light for the rest of the cartooning field....as how to best navigate the digital future to survivability.

Whatever path Breathed chooses, I hope Bloom County is a lot more fun for him this time.